


Song to Say Goodbye

by JB Burge (beggar_always)



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Family, Gen, Pre-Canon, Songfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-04-24
Updated: 2010-04-24
Packaged: 2017-10-09 03:10:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 725
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/82389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beggar_always/pseuds/JB%20Burge
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In four parts: school beckons and each brother must make a decision. Preseries.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Song to Say Goodbye

**Author's Note:**

> This was written early 2008 (mid-Season 3ish). All four of these were written separately...with each other in mind (if that makes sense). They were written initially as part of a Music/Fic Meme on LiveJournal in which you pick a character, throw your music player on random and write a fic within the time it takes a song to play. I liked how these four in particular went together, so they got their own little fic.

**1: Zombie - The Cranberries (5:11)**

Dean thought it was kind of funny to describe his brother as a zombie, seeing as he'd never actually dealt with a true zombie before. A ghoul once, but never a zombie.

But Sam had been walking around in a daze for the past week and Dean was starting to get worried. Sure the kid had his bouts of brooding, but Dean could usually at least get a laugh out of him. This was getting creepy.

He wasn't snooping on purpose, but his favorite knife had gone missing and the mess of their shared bedroom required that he go through everything if he ever hoped to see it again. The envelope fell out of one of Sam's textbooks and Dean picked it up without really thinking.

"Stanford University" in bold letters at the corner made him pause, and before Dean knew what he was doing the letter had been read.

A thousand thoughts rushed through Dean's head. Sam leaving. Sam alone. Sam in danger. Sam leaving. Sitting on the edge of his little brother's bed, Dean thought his heart might have broken a little. It'd been four years since the word "Congratulations" had haunted the older brother and it hurt like hell to see it show up again.

And he knew, without a doubt, his brother wouldn't make the same decision he had.

 

**2: How Do You Say Goodbye - Engineers (5:19)**

Winchester men didn't cry. It was in the Family Rule Book. Sam knew, he'd made it up in a nice construction paper booklet when he was nine.

It didn't stop the tears from falling.

At least he'd gotten out of the apartment before it'd started. If Dad or Dean saw him...

Sam sniffed loudly and reopened the envelope in his hands. Full ride. He'd applied on a whim. He knew he was smart, but hadn't really expected to use it. Winchesters were hunters, after all. But here was his ticket to a different future. A future without blood and ghosts and unconscious family members.

Could he leave them, though? He loved his brother and his father. It wasn't discussed, of course, but he knew they loved him too. Well, his brother loved him at least. His father seemed to have his days. They were still all he knew. He had no experience in the world away from them. And he knew this was an either/or decision. There'd be no coming back.

How could he tell his father his life wasn't what he wanted?

 

**3: All For You - Sister Hazel (3:38)**

The brothers stumbled through the motel room door and Sam struggled to stay upright. His brother had a good fifty pounds and five inches on him, though, and the younger brother was glad, for once, the room was so cramped. You couldn't walk anywhere without running into a bed.

Dean groaned as he bounced slightly on the bed. "Wasgonsammy?" he slurred. Sam got out from under his brother's arm and bent to pull off his sneakers.

"You're drunk, Dean," Sam said tiredly for the tenth time. "You're lucky that cop didn't press charges for minor consumption."

"Wha?" Sam rolled his eyes and focused on getting his brother under the covers. "I won'go fer you." Sam looked at him, confused.

"What? Go where?"

"School."

 

**4: We Gotta Get Out Of This Place - Animals (3:13)**

He'd been shocked when the letter came. Full ride to one of the best engineering schools in the country. He had to read it five times before it even sank in.

Dean spent the next several days in a haze. He watched the machine that was his father go about his business, looking ancient beyond his years. Watched his brother, the thirteen-year-old geek boy, struggle to make the best of the cramped motel room. The kid always had more hope than was good for him.

He could leave. Take the scholarship money and disappear into something that had absolutely nothing to do with dead people and latin incantations.

But where would that leave Sammy? Could he take care of him and handle school? He was being challenged with the task while in high school, college would surely be harder.

Night six and Dean grabbed his jacket. He had to get out of the room, at least. Even for a night.

/end


End file.
